NFPA Journal - Fall 2022 - 49

or e-scooter fires. " Right now, at least,
we seem to be seeing this problem at
a higher rate than others, " Jardin said.
" But I would guess what we're seeing
here will eventually be recognized as a
challenge in other places. "
Better devices,
fewer fires
Fires involving e-bikes and e-scooters
are often attributed to poorly made batteries
and related equipment, including
chargers. That trend has angered industry
leaders, who believe the cheaper
products give all e-bike and e-scooter
manufacturers a bad name.
" We are working hard to be responsible,
with third-party testing and working
with UL standards, and then we have
rogue companies that bring in electric
scooters from China without any kind of
regulations and it creates a bad image, "
Larry Pizzi, an executive at a company
that owns several e-bike brands, told
industry news website bicycleretailer.
com in April.
But even when consumers seek out
the more expensive, well-known brands
of e-bikes and e-scooters, quality-and
safety-are no guarantee. Paiss, the
PNNL technical adviser, said he bought
his own e-bike from a reputable brand,
but the charger that came with it was
still low quality. " I had to purchase a
higher quality one on my own, " he said.
" The charger that came from the manufacturer
was of such poor quality it
could lead to battery damage. "
Beginning in 2016, UL has published
UL 2272, a standard for the certification
of electrical systems found in personal
electric micromobility devices. It came
after a spate of fires involving so-called
hoverboards, one- or two-wheeled
electric devices that riders use like a
skateboard. In 2020, UL published a
standard specific to e-bikes, UL 2849.
The standards ensure, among other
things, that a device's battery management
system, or BMS, is able to monitor
and prevent problems like overheating.
It's unclear what percentage of
e-bikes or e-scooters on the market are
UL-listed to either of those standards,
and it can be tricky for consumers
to ensure what they're getting is as
safe as possible. In 2019, UL issued a
warning to consumers that there were
devices being sold bearing fake UL certification
stickers. There are also some
manufacturers that appear to sell both
listed and unlisted devices, with the
listed items priced higher.
" This certification adds cost to an
e-bike company (and the consumer),
so the e-bike industry has yet to widely
adopt UL 2849, " Jim McIlvain, a former
editor of several motocross and mountain
biking magazines, wrote in a blog
post published in the fall of 2021. Still,
McIlvain said he remained optimistic
that things would change. " Why so
optimistic? " he wrote. " The e-bike industry
is overheated (no pun intended)
by competition. A company may feel
that adding any expense puts them at
a competitive disadvantage (especially
since the industry has been so successful
keeping e-bike fires under the radar).
" It's scary how fast
the environment
in the fire area
diminishes, how
severe the fire
becomes in a matter
of a second or two. "
Still, the brands who see UL 2849 as
value added, not a cost, will immediately
stand out from the competition, appealing
to riders who want the assurance
that the e-bikes in their home do not
pose an extreme fire threat. "
It's also unclear what impact, if any,
the emergence of UL-listed devices
has had on fire incidents. " One of the
questions I have with these incidents
increasing is whether they're occurring
in UL-listed devices, " said Paiss.
There's at least some anecdotal evidence
to suggest that since companies
like Lime and Bird have started using
UL-listed devices, they've seen a drop
in fires. " The very first generation of
scooters used by Lime, Bird, and others
did have a problem with overcharging,
which causes batteries to overheat, " a
Lime juicer wrote on Reddit in June.
" This was back in 2018. What they've
got now ... I can [charge] all night and it
won't even heat up. I've seen them run
over [by vehicles], with bullet dents in
them, thrown in the river, dropped off
overpasses-they're tough as hell and
just come back for more. " In the news,
reports of fires involving devices from
these companies appear to have declined
in the past few years, leaving mostly incidents
that involve personal devices.
Given the benefits a UL listing can
bring to e-bikes and e-scooters, many
safety officials and bicycle enthusiasts
like McIlvain have made it a point to
recommend that consumers only shop
for UL-listed products. It's one area
in the world of e-bikes and e-scooters
where it seems regulation is more
universally accepted, compared to the
outcry that actions taken recently in
New York and London can provoke.
" While some of these bikes and scooters
themselves can be fairly robust, when
you're getting damage, you have no idea
what's happening to that BMS or those
circuits, " said Paiss. " Having that listing
is incredibly important. "
Experts hope changes that have been
proposed for NFPA 1, Fire Code, will
move the needle further on getting more
e-bikes and e-scooters UL-listed. Similar
to the New York City fire code change
that took effect in April, the changes
proposed for the 2024 edition of NFPA
1 would include enhanced safety
requirements wherever more than five
electric micromobility devices are being
charged. Part of those requirements
would be ensuring the devices and their
charging equipment are UL-listed.
Kelly Nicolello, a senior regulatory
engineer at UL and member of the
Fundamentals of the Fire Code committee,
submitted the proposal to add the
new language last year. " This proposal
sets reasonable safety requirements to
mitigate the hazards associated with
the charging of these devices, " Nicolello
wrote, defending his proposal in a
public input. " The proper use of listed
powered micromobility devices, portable
power packs, and compatible chargers
will reduce the fire incidents that have
occurred with nonlisted or incompatible
charging arrangements. "
ANGELO VERZONI is associate editor at
NFPA Journal.
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